The Sun. — London, England, 1809-04-28 00:00:00

~~ - COVAT Oi Arim $7. LIBEL.—.-THE KING V. DEMIISIONT. The Defendant, who was convicted at the Sittings of the last Term, of a - Libel contained in a Letter to the King, was this day brought up for judgment: The Libel inferred that his Majesty was influenced by secret advisers, who were not responsible to the nation for their advice, and not recognized by the Constitution of the Country ; consequently that hia Majesty governed unconstitutionally. Mr. CLIFFORD made an eloquent, iniMated, and impressive speech to the Court in mitigation. He insisted that the Defendant had said no more than what the late Lord Chatham in the House of Lords, and Mr. Burke in the House df Commons had avowed ; what Junius had written, and what poli tical writers had from time to time published. The same sentiments too had been carried to the foot of the Throne, and yet had never been considered li bellous. In short; that the Defendant had done nothing more than exercise his constitutional right of free discussion, and that if he was consigned to a prison, he would have the consolatiou'of exclaiming Multi nlii Boni ideas fecere. Mr. ilooLPltus followed on the same side. The ttITORNEY-GENKKAL replied shortly to the srgumencs used by the Connell on the other side, and said, the Defendant's offence was not less mischievous because others had written the same thing ; though he questioned, if Junius was alive, vberher he wou:d have thought it prudent, at the present day, to write what he had done years since. With respect to the arguments used by that didactic young Gentleman (Mr. Adolphus) who bad more genius than experience, and who imagined he could convince the Court that the writing in question had Po mischievous tendency, he had no complaint to • make, as they could have little weight with their Lordships. The Defendant had been convicted of a Libel, and it was too late to eontrovert the tad of the PiflOboation being a Libel. The Detendaut was . ordered to be brought up for &la judgment on Saturday the 6th of May. Tlll ZIWO V. A. DAVISON, ESQ. The Anciatity.GatautAa prayed the judgment gt the Court upon the Defendant, and stated, that be had paid into the Exchequer 18,8831. 31. the *mount of surcharges in his accounts rendered, and that the public were now no losers in those trans. *Mons. Mr. Justice Gaon then proceeded to pass less tence, and having remarked that the Defendant's condu6t. in making restitution, operated greatly in biltikation of his offence, .adjudged him to be further impnsonetl for twenty-one calendar months, so as to make up the whole of the imprisonment two years Ewe yesterday stated by mistake three years.) CUtISPIRACY. Tug SING V. PLAYFAIR. The Defendant appeared in Court to receive judg ment, having been convlaed of a Conspiracy to de fraud the Creditors of one Kennett, a Bankrupt ; hut it being apparent that Kennett alone was to be nefit bj► the transadion, and that the Defendant was merely an instrument in the hands of the other, the Court sentenced him only to three months imprison ment in Newgate. RIOT AT MANCHtSTER. THEI KING V. JOHNSON. Defendant wa3 convicted at the last Assizes for Lancaster of a conspiracy and riot at Manchester, to obtain a rise of wages, and was brought up to re ceive judgment ; but in consequence of his former good charader and subsequent contrition for his of fence, he was suffered to go at large, oil entering into his own recognizance to appear when callql tipon. Lord ELLENinoaouou went into the City at two o'clock, and heard several Common Jury causes. Yesterday, in the Court of Chancery, an gppli cation was made for permission to peruse the 111311U scripts and papers in the possession of the Direaurs and Trustees of Harrow School, to the end that the nature cd the endowment of that seminary may be Inore clearly understood than it seems to be at pre• Scut.--The application was granted. There is some differenee, it seems, between the Commissioners who are to settle the claims upon the property. of the late NADOB OF THE CARNATIC and the Claimants. By a clause in the agree ment for the adjustment of these claims, it it said that the Commissioners we r e p rec l u d e d from all payment for • their labours, till the business should finally terminate. It appears, however, that they have, already had two payments, one of four thousand pounds, and another of three, and that in consequence of a third application, a meeting of the Claimants was called a tew days ago, when they protested against the payments that had been made, and strongly contended for the necessity of adhering to the clause in question. Some of the claims, it is said, have been standing for upwards of thirty years, and the claimants themselves have lung been under pecuniary embarrassments. On last Friday evening a boy named Itkaae Edney, whose parents reside in Holloway, near lath, was found smothered in the snow near the Ited-post.c bad been driving a horse and cart; and the animal b.lng prevented from proceeding, by the great depth of snow, it is supposed he had alighted to endeavour to extricate him, but unable either to effect his put- Ole, or regain his seat, perished. The Proprietors of an entire tiew'work, entitled /C beau. Monde, and Monthly Register, to which the Public attention has for some time been diree eds are very liberal. in promises. If the execution of their plan be at all adequate, we entertain no doubt that the patronage of the literary and fashion able World will be extended to it in. a degree equal to the curiosity which the proposals hare excited.— An Independent and Liberal Critique upon all the Work, of art, upon all new publicatiOns (and what more novel) upon all new music, if executed in the style to which we know the parties acre compe tent, will, we hope, give a proper, direaion to public ,taste, and enable it to discriminate between the higher 'efforts of the mind, and the paltry produc tions which are published merely to sell. The Pro prietors have certainly undertaken a charge to which great responsibility is attached; some look with no common aexiety to' the appearance of the first th.mber. Y .rcL 3L r A 1i.44 MtVerl { IrObsE OP PBEhS. TUURSDAY, APRIL 27. Several Private Bills were brought up trorti the Commons, and read a first time. DEBTORS. Lord roar* presented the Report of the Corh mittee to whom had been referred the Petitions front Persons confined for Debt in the different Prisons of the kingdom. His Lordship moved that the Report be printed, and expressed a wish that it might be: taken into consideration on an early day. The Report was ordered to lie on the table and to be printed. Lord Reozsmtraa would not pledge himself to adopt the provisions recommended in:the Report. There were many of them which, in,bis opinion, were wholly without foundation. Lord MOIRA observed, that there was nothing ad vanced in the Report which was not fully borne out by the evidence taken before the Committee. The evil complained of certainly called for a remedy, and he trusted some remedy would be applied. Lord REDESDALE explained ; Out deterred enter ing upon the masons which formed the grounds of his opinion until the Report was regularly before the House. • The Navy Compassionate List Bill went through the Committee, and was ordered to be reported. Mr. GlLLiss was heard on the Scotch Records Bill, the third reading of which was postponed till Tuesday. PORTUGAL. The Earl of BUCKlNgliANStilitz, the night before last, adverted to a motion of which his Lordship had some tittle back given notice, respecting the forma tion of the Regency of Portugal. He wished, for the greater convenience of a number of Noble Lords, to postpone that motion till Monday next. In his opinion, the .tormAtioii of that Rnency had been, and was still likely to be productive of very serious consequences. He, therefore, intended to move, on Monday next, for further documents on this subject. In stating the object of his Lordship's motion in our Paper of yesterday, by mistake, it was said, to refer to Mr. Frere's Embassy, and not to the Regency of Portugal.--.Adjoutued till to-morrow. HODS .4 Of COMMONS. THUAGDAY, APRIL 27. .The t Azivoosta of SCOTtAND gave notice, that he should to.nstarrow move for leave to bring'. Ma Bill relating to the Local . Militia in Scotland. A Message from the Lords announced their Lord , ship's assent to several Private Bills. Afr.Owcir, from the East India Company, brought tap the Annual Accounts.—Ordered to lie on the Table. The Fourth Report of the Surveyor - General of Crown Lands was brought up,..and ordered to lie oi: ttm Table. Mr. JOHNSON brought up Accounts of the Inci dental Expences of the General Post-office in Ire land.. Sir t..Toexorr gave,notice, that be would, on Monday, move fir leave to bring in a Bill for the Belief of Insolvent Debtors in England and Wales. Mr. WIIARroN obtained leave to bring in a Bill to prevent frauds being committed on Merehaat, and for facilitating the restoration of property found at sea to its owner. The Bill was then brought in, read a first, and ordered to be printed, and read, a second time this day sesnnight.' Mr. Rose brought in a Bill for making the Sugar and Coffee of the Islands of Martinique and Martga lante, subjected to the same duties as other Colonial Produce, which was read a first time, and ordered to be, printed. Mr. FosTea brought in a Bill for improving the quality of, beer in Ireland, which was. read a .first, and ordered to be read a second time on Monday next, and to be printed., Mr. WARDLE gave notice, that he should, on an early day, call tile attention of the House to the six Reports of .the commissioners of Military Inquiry, - which related to the department of the Accomptant! General of the War-Office, and that he should to morrow move 'for such Pape►s as he thought might be,riecessary to the inquiry. • Mr. AEERCII6MBY, pursuant to his notice, - tose to move that an humble Address be presented to his' Majesty, humbly praying , that he would be graciouso ly pleased to cause to be laid before that House all the General Orders issued by the late Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, to the army .under his critumaud, during thepetiod he was serving in Spain, dated the 23d of Okftober, the 11th and 27th of November, and `the 2'3d and 30th of December, in order to exte nuate the conduCt of that meritorious Officer, by strewing how far that retreat, which had more thin once been termed disgraceful, atiPeted Wit charatier. Lord CASTLEREAGH said, no one could feel more inclined to do justice to the memory of the gallant General, by rescuing it from untnerited Obloquy, than he did; but at the same time he found himself under the necessity of resisting the Hon. Gentle man's motion. He did not know that the papers cook! possibly be produced, and if they could, it was a• very delicate point. Such papers ought not be moved for on slight grounds, as it might be, that in some instances, their production might tend to damp , the apirit . of the army. It was not just towards a Ge neral, because a Commander, situased as Sir John Moore had been, might address his army in a tone not precisely that he would haVe adopted, had he imagined it would have come before- them. He therlfore opposed the motion, because he did not know that the papers could be produced, and whether if they could, it would be proper to make them a subject of Parliamentary discussion. General TARLETON said, Military Orders • were ever given in the. clearest and most precise terms, that they might be understood throughout: the army. He could not think the . Noble Lord: usified in re sitting the motion. Mr. ABERCROMUY in reply said, the first objec tion of the Noble Lord, that it might not be possi ble to ,procure the paper's moved for, he thought could be easily obviated, as he could point out a regular mode of proceeding, which could not fail of obtaining them. If, on sending to the Adjutant General's Oltico; it should appear they had not yet arrived, 'it would be easy► to send the Order of the House for their -produetion to the Adjutatit-Ge, netal of the Army from Spain, who, beyond all doubt, had them 17 his, -possession. The Noble duce them, as he Might have address the army • 4 . . hi g different , tune to that he would have adoetpd had hp ever imagined they would have been brought : before them be was certain that Sir John Moore would never tirt . tie published as tbieg.to his army that be would wilt suppressed, or that he would not avow in the face of the world. Nothing could be .more unjust to the memory of the lamented General; than a refusal to prodOce papera WWII would place his condua in a proper point di view, and ,which, developing the motives by which he was aauated, .migh i t prove that the ob loquy bestowed on the retreat to Corunna did not be long to him, but attached itself elsewhere. It it was true that the army Was in a bad state of' dieCipline, and that Sir John Moore had told them .Of And re pined them for it; in his addresses, when an appeal was made hi the House in behalf of hint, who, now no more, Could no longer defend himself; they ought not to be told such an inquiry should not be perse vered in, as, were the papers brought forward, their contents might tend to damp thespirits . of the army.. Ministers had never imposed such a high degree of, responsibility ()natty one else as it sliould . appear had been cast on Sir John Moore. He was responsible for the march from Lisbon to Salamanca; and that from Salamanca to Corunna. The. army which acl, companied Sir J. Moore from Portugal was greatly superior to that which joined him under the com mand of Sir David Baird. If the discipline' of his troops were bad, the best mode of improving its dis cipline was by a march like that frem Lisbon to Sa lamanca. At all events, it was necessary to insti tute an inquiry, and it was his decided opinion the papers ought to be produced. Mr. Timm' thought, as the propriety of Sir J. Moore's conduit appeared such that the public were generally satisfied, the production of the Papers moved for seemed unnecessary. Mr. HORNER thought, that whatever obstacle from a feeling of delicacy might arise in some cases to the production of certain documents, none after what had already been produced could be supposed to exist in the present. He thought they ought to be pro duced, to enlighten the public on a question so im portant. Lord CASTLE RAGA briefly replied, and gave it as his opinion, that such an inquiry at the present moment would be inviill , us and unnecessary. A division took place, when there appeared, • ' For their production - 37 Against it OD 130 Majority - Mr. EDebt rote to move for certain Papers relating to Mr. Freres& mission. After some preliminary observationi, he stated, that Mr. Frere had written to Sir J. Moore on the 23.1 of November, advising him W advance with his army. In answer to this letter of Mr. Frere s, Sir J. Moore writes, " I last . night received a letter from the Supreme Junta. . I. have commanded Sir David Baird to march back to' Astorga, and have stopped the preparetioes for re ereating." And this it appeared had been done at a period when there could, in fact, be no pros pea of the British army being ''able to exert itself with circa. At this junaure, twO persons (Thomas de Mode and the Duke del Casten Franca) call ing themselves the Supreme. Junta, wrote a let ter to Sir JohaMoOre, dated the tst' of December, in which they stated, that they werA much threatened by the enemy, thafCastanos, with c... 5,000 men, and another army of 10,000 were falling beck, and that they hoped he (Sir John . Moore) would fell back, and unite with their force. It had since appeared, that on the very day on which that letter was wrote, Morla had an interview with the French Command ers; three days after from his oentlea it should ;le pear he considered all resistance as useless, and on the oils (the day on which Sir John Moore) received the letter th© French were in quiet' possesson . of Madrid. If it had been the wish of Moria to decey the British Aituy into the power of the French, lie j could not:have wished for an itistrument more likely to forward his wishes then the letter which had been written to Sir J. Moore by Mr. Frere. And the subsequent condua of Merle was, such as to justify a suspicion that that wes the fact. The situation of Sir John Mame at that period was truly dis tressing he found himself at the lteadtOf a British Army in a foreign country, placed in such a cir cumstance (though no :fault of his),, that he could not ba cheered with any'reasonableprOspea of see cess. He khew. the extrevagent notions of Spaniih enthusiasm that at that Wail Si) generally pervaded this country, and was aware of the censure he must in all probability incur it' he consulted the safety of hie army, by quitting the country without making any further effort in the cause. Yet happily saperior to all these afiliaing refieetions; the gallant General determined to braVe' the transient Obloquy that me haeed hint, by preserving his matt. To this resolve we might attribute his avoiding the spare; but thotigh the Whole of his army Were not decoy . - ed into the power of the French, the disastrous battle of Corunna might be ascribed to' the eireumstanees he had spoken of. The Honourable Secretary op. posits certainly could not mean to say, at a time when Mr. Frere was su confident of the success of the Spanish Ouse, when he was so confident in the soundness of his own judgment, that he in a manner superseded the Commanding Officer, in a case which involved the fate of the finest body of troops 'that had ever sailed from Engiand, that he n e ver wrote in explanation of his cantina ; it could not be supposed that he bad failed to communicate to Government his retisotis for aaing as he did, and if such an 'ex planation had been trenstnitted, it was highly proper that it should be produced. The Hon. Gentleman concluded by ',Moving, " That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, humbly praying that be will be graciously pleased to cause, o be laid before that House, a copy of a letter from the 'Supreme Junta of Spain, referred to by• Sir John Moore in a letter to Mr. Frere, dated Dec. 0, 1808, 'together with any other informatien thafrnight be in posses i siOn of his Majesty's Ministers relati n g to two letters from Mr.}Trere, dated Dec. 23, 1808, or the MO' senger who was the bearer of thee:' Mr. CANNIVG thought such a motion should not have been inade.at this juncture; nor did he think the Hon. gentleman ought to have entered into the detail he had prefaced his motion with. He would not trust himself with the expression:of his own feel ings at present on the stinjea. _Whenever a proper period arrived fur the pr.oduction of the Papers,were , he not called, on by his public duty, private friend ship would be suthcmat to induce him to bfing them IPTAllafg o .CW at present rte had them not to prridUre. For rions reasons he did not interi opt the Hon . . Gen:leman :white reOing,th document he t.c.i clui;ed,,lioyevr irregular such a`procedure alight ti'e but there was another Hon. Gentletniti in his Miley`, who, from ids former cendtiet; he shr;uld, ha%c ex peetetl. have oppoSed the reading cif it,. but w h o had . on that O.:easion been silent., He bid, tici wish to withhold soy information on the subjea; it moved for at 4 proper time. . TtaattaY was sUrprised the Heti; Serretery should consider his Hon. Frterifs stating the groundt on Which he made his motion in the light of an of mice, but that, perhaps, ought not to be wondered at as even he who had said , nothing. abort it, had com&inifir his, share. The Hon. Se.Cretary was surprised that he had not called the Hun. Gentletuan to order While reading the letter. Was it his Pecu liar business to call to order whenever a letter WWI read ? The occasion on which he Ind forrnerli spoke to order was, when some garbled pullet ex-i ttaas were about to be read. But when ati entire document, consisting of merely a plain matter of tart; was produced, he.eould not feel any obit:akin to ihe, reading. That the Hon. Secretary bad not the papers. moved for was an answer, but his Hon. Friend was not to blante - for all that, and the , House Munt feel oblicd to him for the motives. It was strange that. the Supreme Junta*should: be allowed to write let ters to a Minister, the contents of which were het known to Government, or so known, they could not be communicated to the House. Mr. CANNING explained, stating that the letter was not from the Junta, who, when forced to move, were accompanied by Mr. Frere ; .an¢ that the me , - 3eoger on his way accidentally' encountered Mr. Frere, who then charged him with such intorma— tion as be ,wishedrto convey to Sir John Moore. - Lord H. PETTY ol3Served, the motion of his Hon. Friend included any information tilt" might have oL the letters from Mr. Frere, and wished to know if the Hon. Secretary objeded w giving any info:Ana-, lion with respe& to the Messenger ? Mr. Corn tio - said, he had .stated befOre that lw did not know the messenger.' Lord CASTLEREAGH said, it was not in his power to give the information required, or any p.m eat ttrtsi correspondence. With respect to the niessenqtr (Col. Charmilly), he .had no official situation.: tid , (Lord Castlereagh)/had formerly distinctly told bini he had no occasion for his services in Spilt. Mr. WHITBREAD' thought it would have a better; appearance if Ministers .agreed with the !mitt:ma of his Noble Frienti, and gave the information reettired, than; their thus anxiously concealing it could possibly, have. In the course of the debate iwo things worthy, of notice had come out; the one was the n:ntt.! the messenger, the other that the Noble Lord . (Costie reagh) was still one of his Majesty's Ministers. Tit it circumstance would surprise the Country ty.?t a little .. It certainly was somewhat extraordinary that a M;- nister of the Crown in the face of a minority ot. should retain his seat. In former. times a stualk.r Minority would have been sufficient to.induce a Mi nister. to resign. The oak that braves the atOrtll,.iil ty be up-rooted, but the bulrush that hepds bdure the,. blast, escapes the shock. . Lord CASTLEREAGH said, ithe iniAnuation of the • ' Hon. Gentleman would !memo effect upon his, cow l du&. When . he formerly denied a knowledge of; the Messenger, he did not know Colonel Chartnilif was that Messenger." The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER. helievedi the surprise the Hon. Gentleman had talked of weol.t prove to be cenfined to himself. The liouie could not be sorpriied at' the Noble . Lord's' seiviog his Mijeity, as their dontiuti had expressed they were not of opinion there would be any neCessity, for his retiring. General TAttr.vrow said, a great man on the othor side of the House had:fortnerty noticed en indiyidual, by calling him " the Child and Champion of Leo binism." They might now on the other side speak of .a certain Personage as the Child and Champion 4,1 Patronage. He then adverted to the conduct of Mr. Erere, and proceeded to speak of the charatler of Co lonel Charmilly, when A Member spoke to order, as he did not think it could be proper to enter into his character there. General TAHLETOK appealed to the Chair. The SPEAKER said it was a nice point. to decide on, and left it to. the Hon. Member's own discretion, General TARIATON felt• it to be his duty to put thettiouse in possession of such information relative; to,the character of that man as he might be able to atfotd them. • A ' On the motion of Mr. Yo ‘ ttp, the question was than read. General TARLETON said he would proceed. Some years ago, Colonel De Chartnilly came over to Ire land, where, engaging in play with a Mr,. Devereux, he lost a considerable sum, which be refused to pay. Mr. DeVerettx' wished to challenge him, , and him (General Tarleton) to be his second, but'lse fused.' Colonel De Charmilly said that he WEIS Oita drunk, and knew nothing of the affair. A rerenelt Count was referred to, as a sort of umpire, who told Mr. Devereux that he (Colonel De Charmilly) as a ruined man, and begged that he (Mr. Dever eux) would not press hard for the money, as if rive or six and twenty guineas were.found hr, his pocket the next morning, he would be a richer man than when he entered the house. He thought it his duty to put the House in possession of these fads, as they served to throw some light on.the character of the man, who was to throw Sir John Moore in the shade, and in fa& regulate the whole_ of the opqa. Lions of the British army.. lie thought the House 'ought to be made acquainted with every part of Mr,. Frere's conduit. After a few words from Mr. Yoatta, Mr: EDEN said, he thought much credulity marked the condutt of Mr. Frere. He did not kilnwr w lmt could call on him such expres,dotis of ipdignation. Sir 3. Moore had been told to talN as the rule for 1) condua, the adyice of Mr. Frere and the :;tyrertiE. Junta, and on their advice he had tak , :n a most im portant step yet Government were not in posses sion of the tneasages which had been sent to him. \Vas not this a fault on the part of Ministers, or on that of some of their Officers ? ••v, Mr. • A N SING felt lIQ particular resent went against C the Hon. Gentleman but it was not 1 . 34 to iltgv the motion as he had'urged it. It reduced him to the dilemma of letting the censure, bestowed upon Mr. Prete, pass unnoticed, or enter into his defence, at a time when it would be very inconvenient to agititte that question.